The Economist is a substantial read. It is published weekly, and my subscription includes first-class delivery. I look forward to receiving it through the post on Saturday morning so I can dip into it over the weekend. However, half the time it doesn't arrive until Monday, and sometimes it is Tuesday. This frustrates me, and my household is fed up with my frequent complaints about the inefficiencies of the Royal Mail and how I don't want to receive a newspaper in which the news is several days out of date.
It appears that I am not the only one suffering from problems with the Royal Mail. At the end of last year, Ofcom carried out a survey of more than 5,500 postal users and found that half had experienced a problem sending or receiving letters, yet only 18% had ever complained to the Royal Mail. That fits me to a tee. I really would like my Economist to be delivered on time, but I can't be bothered to complain because I think it would get me nowhere, and it may even annoy our local postie (if it gets back to them).
You may have noticed that there is a takeover bid by the Czech billionaire, Daniel Křetínský, for the Royal Mail. It will be interesting to see if he can shake the organisation up and improve its service. Mind you, the bar is not that high. Ofcom also carried out a survey specifically asking people about their experience of parcel delivery to a residential address. Twelve of the major parcel delivery companies were covered, including the Royal Mail. A quarter to a half of the participants in the survey said that they had suffered a problem of one kind or another. Delayed parcel delivery was the most frequent problem, but there were a host of other issues, such as leaving the parcel in the wrong place, not knocking loud enough on the door, and not giving the parcel recipient time to get to the door. There were no paragons of virtue in the delivery companies, and one company, Evri (previously Hermes), was the worst, with the Post Office following in its wake.
Running a parcel delivery company can't be easy. People's expectations are high, and there are traffic problems to contend with, drivers not turning up, addresses not being accurate, and people not being at home with nowhere to leave the parcel. But that is what these delivery companies are supposed to be able to manage. It's not easy running an airline, a coffee shop, or a manufacturing unit that makes widgets.
Almost certainly, the postal and parcel delivery problems are caused by attempts to save costs. We see this all the time in other sectors. Reduced staffing levels, insufficient training, and lack of investment in technology and equipment nearly always lead to poor service. It is probably no surprise that private equity investors and rebranding have become popular in the parcel and postal delivery market. These are two red lines for us in customer experience. Private equity will aim to extract more profit from inefficient and badly run companies, and rebranding is usually an attempt to paint over an image that has become tarnished. Don't expect any improvements anytime soon.
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